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Developing
Capacity Based Evaluation
Approaches to University Science Programs
Comparing Interdisciplinary Centers and Traditional
Academic Units
PI: Juan D.
Rogers
Co-PI: Barry
Bozeman
We have defined Capacity-based research
evaluation as “an approach seeking to identify and
measure factors presumed to enhance the ability of persons, institutions or
social agglomerations to contribute to scientific and technical knowledge.”
The purpose of this project is to further develop the theoretical and
conceptual underpinnings for “capacity-based evaluation” of university science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research programs and to
implement field evaluations in three different settings: university science and
engineering centers in majority institutions, university science and engineering
in historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) or EPSCOR programs, and, as a “control,”
traditional, discipline oriented, academic departments in a matched set of
universities. The capacity of a research unit is given by the scientific and
technical human capital (STHC) of its members and the infrastructure that
supports their activities. Capacity-based evaluation seeks to assess the two
components of capacity and establish the adequacy of the fit between them. In
other words, it seeks to assess not only the absolute value of human capital and
of means at their disposal but also establish how well adjusted they are to each
other. The analysis of infrastructure will focus especially on information
technology. Many of the most significant recent investments in infrastructure
for research and higher education, such as, Internet technologies, digital
libraries, high performance computing, are in the area of information
technology. Because of the generic nature and rapid change of these
technologies, they present a special challenge for appropriate use and adequacy
of fit with research activities in different fields.
Several
propositions are examined: (1) When compared to
traditional academic programs, interdisciplinary science and engineering centers
will have systematically different contributions to capacity-building in general
and S&T human capital, in particular. (2) Because of the disproportionate
impact of centers’ research resources (e.g. as a percentage of total research
funding for the university), we expect that the greatest divergence between
traditional departments and centers-based programs will be at HBCU’s and EPSCOR universities. (3) The ability of
researchers to pursue their own interests and research agenda will be greater in
interdisciplinary centers with greater access to and better fit with information
technology. (4) The creation of capacity measured by the aggregation of
individual STHC alone will be greater in interdisciplinary centers. Among
interdisciplinary centers, those with better fit with IT will have greater
creation of capacity per dollar of infrastructure investment. (5) Participation
in inter-institutional IT systems will be greater in interdisciplinary centers
than traditional departments within the same institution.
The findings of this project should be useful to both government
program managers and persons involved in the management and design of university
research programs and centers.
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